the mother certainly played a role. >> a flawed investigation... >> do you feel that the police has been as fair? >> and a missing child. >> i hope that the person that has her just bring her home. >> now, "america tonight" investigates the search for relisha. tomorrow, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. this is al jazeera america. live from new york city i'm tony harris. the executioner, what authorities say they now know about the masked isil fighter in those beheading videos. and net neutrality, how it may affect anyone who goes on the web. and helping the homeless the push to stop people from donating to those living on the streets. ♪

he has appeared in many of isil's most horrific propaganda videos, the masked isil fighter with an english accent referred to as jihadi john. authorities say he is actually mohammed emazi. jamie what more is known about this man? >> tony while there has been no official confirmation of the identity of the masked man, numerous government intelligence officials are quoted as identifying the notorious isil fighter. until now the knife wielding massed man was known only as one of a group of british fighters that prisoners had make anymored the beatles. but now intelligence sources

have put a name to the face. he was reportedly born in kuwait grew up in west london and studied computer programming. >> the moment i knew was extremely kind extremely gentle extremely soft-spoken, was the most humble young person. >> reporter: this man is with cage a london-based group that works with muslims who are under scrutiny from british in -- in -- intelligence service. he says he was radicalized by the british government. the group says in an email he wrote, i have a job waiting for me and marriage to get started, but now i feel like a prisoner only not in a cage in london. >> when are we going to finally learn that if we treat people as

if they are outsiders they will feel like outsiders and look for belonging elsewhere. >> in the west london neighborhood where his family is believed to have lived one man who identified himself as an iraqi was shocked to hear the report. >> no, i'm telling you he is not jihad. no jihad. sorry. >> reporter: in washington there was no officialco corroboration. >> it's something i cannot confirm or deny. >> reporter: the state department was asked how it squared with his previous statement that joblessness among young men is fuelling extremism. >> that's a factor, but we're not suggesting it's the only factor. >> investigators are trying to find out whether he was the soul

survivor of a group of west londoner -- londoners. >> reporter: the u.s. government works closely with british intelligence to tractor ror suspects, but refused to say what role if any it played in unmasking mohammed. it did say it continues to aggressively hunt for terrorist us who murder americans. president obama said eventually if you hurt an american you are going to be brought to justice in some fashion. activists say isil has kidnapped more assyrian christians. at least 220 have been abducted from 11 villages in the province in the past three days alone isil began abducting the assyrians on month. the fate of the hostages are unclear, thousands have fled the area because of the fighting.

the fbi now says it has investigations in every state into people suspected of plotting to join isil. that follows the arrest of three men for conspiring to join isil. >> reporter: investigators say at least two of these three men in brooklyn had made up their minds they were going to the killing fields and if they couldn't get there, they would kill here. and men like these are not alone. their numbers are growing. to all outward appearances for the last six months this 24-year-old was living a quiet life. he said to have blended into his new york neighborhood had a roommate and a restaurant job. but authorities say secretly he was making big plans. >> the initial actions were effectively to go to syria, and attempt to join isil in syria. >> reporter: last august the fbi began investigationing he

and two other men all living in brooklyn, all talking about isil. they caught the fbi's attention when he allegedly posted a message on a website saying: >> those people exist in every state, and i have home grown violent extremist investigations in every single state. until a few weeks ago there was 49 states. alaska had none but alaska has now joined the group. so we have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states. >> reporter: the fbi says more than 150 americans have tried to join isil. it's unknown how many have made it or how many are being watched by the u.s. government. >> we don't know the numbers. we do know there have been indictments in at least 12 states. >> reporter: earlier this week a

19-year-old denver women was sentenced to four years in prison for planning to fly to syria and join isil. and just last month a 20-year-old ohio man described as an isil sympathizer was caught in what was described as the final stages of a plot to attack the capitol. the fbi had been watching him for months. the men arrested wednesday in new york discussed how they might try to kill police officers, fbi agents and bomb coney island. the alleged plot comes off as hapless at times. one of the men said his mother had taken his passport. but their arrests only underscore the growing psychological reach of isil. >> isil is putting out a siren song through their slick propaganda that goes like this. troubled soul come to the caliphate. right? you will live a life of glory.

these are the end times. you will find a life of meaning here fighting for our so-called caliphate. and if you can't come kill somebody where you are. >> reporter: around the world it is estimated some 25,000 people have travelled to become isil foreign fighters. many of them analysts say, young and naive. >> they just want to go. they are not talking about coming back. they are not that sophisticated in their thinking. they buy this idea of a caliphate. >> reporter: an idea inspiring even the unsophisticated to want to wage holy war. a lawyer for the youngest member of the brooklyn three calls the government tactics in this case ham fisted. he said a paid government inform worked over his client and even helped him get papers. >> paul thank you. joining me now is a former

deputy under secretary for intelligence and analysis operations at the department of homeland security. jack good to see you again. what about these arrest of these guys in new york is interesting to you? >> well this is a very -- an interesting case. these -- these individuals probableably weren't the most sophisticated in your trade craft. having your mother take your passport is probably not the epitome of being a covert actor here. but these are fairly typical young men that are motivated by a desire to go overseas, fight for isil and possibly lay down their lives. they were answering a siren song. if they couldn't go overseas they were going to commit mayhem in the united states. >> how do you infiltrate and catch these guys? a signal? human intelligence?

all of the above, and is the job more difficult if the people you are tracking here are unsophisticated? >> tony that's a great question. and let me say this that there's no one sure way to get an individual or track an individual that's -- that's thinking of -- of committing a terrorist act. >> right. >> the law enforcement community, the intelligence community uses a full array of tools, including human intelligence signals intelligence including gets tips and lead through good police work. including community policing going out and getting to know the elders for example in the community. in this case we had two individuals who were from kazakhstan, and one from uzbekistan, these individuals were probably known in their communities, and one elder from one of the communities said one of the young men was a lost soul. >> right. >> so you use a different array of tools to find out what feem

are doing. certainly monitoring social media is one way. and in this case i think that's how these individuals were discovered. >> tips from the community. let me pick up on that. part of the reason we want you on the program is to share information that might be helpful to people watching in program in keeping vigilant in their day-to-day lives. is there a profile for people that do this kind of thing? and i'm also wondering about, again, the unsophisticated. is there something you can add that helps identify people who might be of interest? >> well, i -- i don't want to say there is a profile. there's not a -- at one time people thought, well a lot of these individuals might be listless, lost failures at their job or failures in school. but that's not always the case. >> right. >> the 9/11 attacks, the operationer commander of the

9/11 attacks had a master's degree in civil engineering. he was ant failure. he was a very smart guy, and he was able to be successful in that heinous act. so there's not really a profile. >> right. >> i think the nypd say it well if you see something, say something. if you know someone that is perhaps espousing dangerous rhetoric, if you know someone that is going online and visiting jihadist websites or saying isil is the best thing i ever saw. i think that should raise someone's awareness. >> yeah. yeah. just trying to come up with ways to counter these loan wolves who may be acting out there in these small cells. kids -- young people -- kids do bad things sometimes just to get attention. terrorist organizations live

right, to get press attention for ridiculous behaviors. here is my question is reporting on every tape playing right into isil's hands? >> i think to some extent isil is -- is -- is thriving on the media's attention to their activities. they don't make these outrageous videos just to do it. they are doing it for a reason and part of the message of terrorism is you don't necessarily have to kill someone, but you have to put people in fear of something bad happening. so to some extent probably we do play into their message. on the other hand it's important that we raise our collective awareness that there may be bad actors out in our midst, and people trying to recruit among our own citizenry. >> jack that's great. former deputy undersecretary for intelligence and analysis operations at the department of

homeland security. great to talk to you. >> tony thank you very much. and isil has released another propaganda video i was just referring to that appears to show fighters destroying some of the ancient history in areas under its control. men using sledge hammers to smash artifacts in the city of mosul. the group is also believed to have sold ancient artifacts to raise money for its campaign. ukraine's military said it has begun pulling heavy weapons from the front lines and with ceasefire at least now the ceasefire is holding. the grim task of finding those killed or missing is underway. paul brennan visited what is left of the donetsk airport where destruction is making that job difficult. and a warning his report

contains some disturbing images. >> reporter: the battlefields of east ukraine are bleak and chilling places. the destructive power of modern weapons leaves a stark impression. donetsk airport is such a place. nearly four months of bitter fighting left this whole area completely shattered. the interior of the terminals are strewn with debris and rubble. >> translator: when a concrete deem falls down and a body is buried under it we have to lift it up somehow. as it is all in a confined area we cannot use any heavy lifting equipment, we have had to used a controlled explosion to get at it. >> reporter: a group of captured ukrainian soldiers have been ganged into collecting the bodies of their fallen colleagues. the task of locating

extracting and identifying the corpses of those kill inned action in this conflict is extraordinarily difficult as you can probably tell just by looking at the conditions in which these constricts are having to work. the bodies of some 30 ukrainian soldiers have been found here so far. but the process of transferring them to a morgue and then returning them to their relatives, receives low priority. these corpses were found 24 hours previously. but have still not been taken away. and there were other battles, other casualties. in the chaos of the conflict neither side have definitive figures for the numbers missing in action. the international red cross in donetsk is now trying to assist. >> at the moment we are already cooperating with the morgues, providing body bags to some groups that are involved in the retrieval of body -- bodies. now we are -- yeah we will be

trying to get more involved in the process in the transfer of bodies. >> reporter: according to the morgue in donetsk, only nine soldier's bodies have been transferred to the ukrainian side. a much bigger effort is required. across the conflict zone of east ukraine are many more fighters of both sides yet to be given the dignity of a proper burial. argentina's president has been cleared of charges in a deadly 1994 bombing. she was accused of covering up iran's alleged involvement in the attack. but the judge said the case does not merit a formal investigation. >> reporter: this is a very significant ruling and very very good news indeed for the president. had this case moved forward and gone to trial, she would have faced the humiliating prospect of having to defend herself, possible impeachment, and even prison had she been found guilty.

the timing also could not be better for the president. she is due to give her very last speech to the nation on sunday before she steps down at the end of the year and rather than be on the defensive, she will likely sound victorious. however, the prosecution can still appeal and also in the same week that judges and prosecutors accused the government of trying to politicize the judiciary and pressuring the judicial system there may very likely be charged founded or not, that she tried to pressure the judge and that she might have had a hand in the ruling. we're learning more about the migrant worker killed by police in washington. he was gunned down after complaints he was throwing rocks at cars. his family said he had been dealing with mental health issues. allen schauffler joins us live now. allen? >> reporter: well, tony this is the first trip ever for his

mother to the united states and sadly, it is a trip to receive the body of her son -- or retrieve the body of her son, rather. she tells us she hadn't seen antonio in about ten years, and she says she was stunned, believing when she first watched the video of the shooting. the funeral was held here yesterday. his mother in attendance making the long trip from the small town in mexico. she says she does want justice, and wants to see punishment for the three police officers involved. >> translator: they need to pay with jail time. i don't wish for them to be killed, because they have mothers too. i don't want them to suffer the way i'm suffering now. because only mothers know how much this hurts. they need to pay with jail time. >> reporter: we'll have more of our conversation with his mother in the next news hour. one of the family's lawyers is

releasing partial results of a second autopsy. they are results that he claims contradict some of the statements made by investigators about how many shots hit antonio, and where the bullets hit him. tony? >> okay. allen. new government rules of the road for the information superhighway. and it is all about equality. plus it is now legal to smoke pot in washington, d.c., that's despite threats of jail time for city officials.

♪ sweeping new internet regulations were approved today by the fcc. the net neutrality means the government can regulate the web like a utility. jake ward is live for us in san francisco. explain what this really means. >> sure. think of some of the other things the government has already regulated. for instance, take the highways. at one point the fcc was

considering treating internet like a two-tiered highway system, one tier for those who paid more and the other for those who paid less. under these new rules we'll all have access to the same road. tom wheeler proposed doing away with net put inialty, but the plan attracted millions of public comments and huge outcry. the question was to allow internet providers to charge a premium for a faster more reliable internet. the rest of us would have a slower connection. speed makes or breaks the companies that deliver content like music or movies. faster sites have the advantage. the idea of net neutrality is that we should all travel the same roads on the internet whether you are netflix or some

tiny upstart, you get to use the same highway. everyone reaches everyone else at the same speed. internet service providers have argued they should be able to charge more for a faster form of the internet. that would mean that those of us who can't afford premium access including smaller companies would share a slower more crowded digital highway. that critics say would kill the free and open internet as we know it. the fcc will now regulate internet service the same way it regulates a highway. in on op-ed wheeler wrote: these new rules will prevent broadband providers from blocking or limits content. certainly the big losers here were the big cable companies. they definitely lost out, and say this has put an unfair burden on them and they are not

really going to be investing in the future. but also buried in the rules is an interesting side no it. not only will these new rules keep companies from blocking or prioritizing website services we see in our homes, but also apply rules to mobile devices. in the past the fcc has been criticized for being too far behind, now they're trying to make sure they have authority to make sure all traffic is treated equally whether it's a laptop or cell phone or some sort of mysterious device that no win has thought of yet. >> jake ward thank you. tech stocks have been on a real role lately. and the nasdaq is approaching a record it set back before the text bubble burst back in 2000. ali is this a cause for concern or reason to celebrate?

>> it's a good question. i would say caution is always a good idea but while we're not in the position we were in back in 2000 in terms of risk so there's a little bit of a reason to celebrate. the nasdaq rally is being lead by established companies with real businesses. back in 2000 they were just names that had dot-com at the end of them in some cases. today we have real businesses. some of the bubble was based on companies that had no earnings. here in 2015, look at apple stock, up 17% this year alone. amazon up even more. 24%. impressive gains are coming from biotech companies. so it's a lot broader than it used to be. today it rose less than half a percent to 4998.

5088 is the number we're looking for. so it's a little bit below that record close reached 15 years ago. >> ali is this a sign that the american economy is still improving, starting to get to that area -- >> sort of. >> yeah okay. >> it's more an issue of the fact that interest rates are as low as they are, so stocks and equities are really the investment choice as long with real estate. as interest rates start to go up bonds become more attractive. i think there's still some nonsense in the stock market. particularly in the tech sector there are companies that are go for valuations that remind of 2000. i would say it's not a bad sign tony. >> gotcha. what else is on the big show for you? >> we have a big show for you tonight. we're going to be talking to a

former new jersey governor about whether you can be openly gay and run for important and senior office in america. of course we're doing this because of the asen shun of the governor of oregon who is bisexual, and we're going to talk about how things have changed and whether they have changed enough. >> ali thank you. you can watch "real money with ali velshi" every weeknight right here on al jazeera america. >> you know there's kissing, but is there telling. >> when we make a decision i'll let you know. >> time is running out for congress. plus it is now legal to cheat on your spouse in south korea. could it change in the sex law help the country's economy?

♪ and welcome back to al jazeera america. congress has just one more day

to prevent the shutdown of the department of homeland security. if not thousands of federal employees could be send home. mike viqueira has the latest. mike good to see you. we understand that house republicans were meeting behind closed doors tonight. what is the update? >> well they have just broken and there is chaos behind the scenes within the house republican conference. it is the leadership which wants to avert another collision with the white house. versus conservatives who are simply digging in their heels. they want to find a way to have the president's executive actions on immigration, to try to use the power of the purse somehow to defund the department of homeland security. but they appear to be losing ground. tony you know over the course of the last couple of days mitch mcconnell in the senate largely acquiesced to democratic and

white issues and decided to put through a clean funding bill to last until october of this year that would fully fund the department of homeland security and try to get at the president's executive orders in another way. the house republicans do not want to go along with that. they are talking about putting a bill on the floor tomorrow. and just kicking the can down the road. unclear whether that would help heal these divisions. >> amazing. so mike describe if you would here, because folks need to hear this, the course of events today, and how we got to this particular point. >> right, we started the day thinking there was going to be a deal. there were question marks would conservatives in the house go along. evidently they are not. but the administration trying to keep the pressure on the

congress. the secretary appeared with the fema director trying to talk about everything that was at stake. here is jeh johnson. >> that has a lasting impact in my view. that is one of the reasons why craig and i and the other senior leaders of the department have been so forceful about the impacts of a shutdown. because it affects our men and women. it affects the people who work every day to protect the homeland so promote public safety and i think that they deserve a lot better from their political leadership in washington than the plight that we're in right now. >> reporter: they appeared before reporters, tony. meanwhile house speaker john boehner appeared before reporters. they wanted to know what he was going to do? here is john boehner's somewhat unusual reaction to a question.

>> reporter: are you going to put it on the floor? kill it vote on it? have you even had this discussion. >> when we make decisions i'll get you know. >> reporter: john boehner you never know what he is going to come up with. they tried to vote him out as speakers at the beginning of the year, and he is now trying to keep them in line once again. tony. >> okay. mike viqueira for us. mike thank you, sir. another hurdle cleared today for president obama's nominee for attorney general. the senate judiciary committee voted to endorse loretta lynch. approved she would be the first african american woman in that position replacing retiring attorney general eric holder. it is one of the biggest political events of the year and republican presidential hopefuls certainly know it. a few spoke today at cpac in

maryland. michael shure is live for us in los angeles, and michael let's start here. senator ted cruz spoke about his strategy for 2016. let's have a listen. >> we bring together fiscal conservatives, and social conservatives, and national security conservatives. the way we get to 51% is we bring together conservatives and libertarians and evangelicals and women and young people and hispanics hispanics, and reagan democrats! [ cheers and applause ] >> and how do we do that? we do that fundamentally, by standing with the people and not with washington. >> okay. michael shure what do you make of the senator's tone here? >> well it's good for ted cruz to be at the end of washington

because in his office things have not been so unified. he is among the friendlies there at cpac and it is -- you know it is some of the best political theater, but it is also in 2015, again, next year even more so an audition space for so many of the candidates there. three senate republicans who are going to be up for election in 2016 kelly ayot, ron johnson, pat toomey from pennsylvania they are not going to cpac this year, because it brings a little bit of toxicity as well. >> gotcha. ted cruz made a reference to hillary clinton recently. >> yeah. >> let's have a listen. >> well, you know, we could have had hilary here. [ laughter ] >> but we couldn't find a foreign nation to foot the bill. >> oh nice shot there.

so the clinton foundation had this to say last week about it's donations from foreign countries. i'll read it here. : thoughts on this michael? >> well you know, this is a bit of a problem for hillary clinton, and the republicans are trying to get her off of the tracks in whatever they can -- way they can to try to dissuade her from running. it seems to stay with the tracks, that train has left the station. she is already hiring people today even a political director is rumored to have been hired. so they are trying to key in on things that are unique to hillary clinton, and this foundation has a little bit -- it brings up question marks these foreign donations from about six nations. the one they had to apologize

for was from algeria, which they never reported to the white house as per prescription. but it was all to go to haiti, and they were saying these were all giving money to the foundation prior to her becoming secretary of state. >> we would -- >> so it's one of those interesting problems that -- that is going to be unique to her campaign. >> we would certainly like some donor lists to political action pacs. that -- that would be nice. maybe we can get that in the 2016 cycle. i'm not sure. wisconsin governor scott walker is another possible 2016 candidate. and he has made his presentation on being strongly anti-organized labor. what is going on this week? >> this is what put him on the map, tony. he came in to try to make wisconsin a right to work state. he pushed it through the legislature. he was recalled for having done so.

scott walker is really good at politics, and he is trying to prove that yet again. he is squeezing this in when he said he wasn't going to. and what it's setting up is a difference between he and chris christie on unions as they both go into iowa and the effect and influence of unions in iowa has waned. richard gebhart, when he was running for president, his donations were largely taken from unions. they all endorsed him, and it didn't work for him. so the influence of unions in iowa is not as strong as it might have been before. >> dick gebhart reference in the program. all right. michael shure. >> we try to make everybody happy. >> right. governor backer is doing pretty well. he is 12 points aread of rand

paul. what does this if anything have to do with his union stance? the >> it's about name recognition, tony. getting his name out there, that's what is important at this stage of the game. >> and finally congressional republicans are angry about the recent legalization of marijuana in washington, d.c. what are some of them saying? >> well jason, the head of the house oversight committee which sort of has washington, d.c. under its umbrella is saying this is illegal, you are not allowed to do it even though there was a vote on it. he is saying this is illegal, we are going to stop it. and congress can only do so much because then the justice department is going to have to step in. and they haven't done anything with washington and colorado. >> yeah, we'll have to follow up on that. michael shure good to talk to you. >> thanks, tony. i had a chance to talk to

d.c.'s attorney general, and i asked if he is prepared for the backlash over the district's new marijuana law. >> we're moving forward with the confidence and support of over660,000 citizens of the district of columbia those citizens overwhelmingly supported limited legalization. we're moving forward with the support of the overwhelming majority of congress frankly on both sides of the aisle. so we' prepared to side with democracy and voting rights. >> republican lawmakers as you know particularly in the house, are threatening to -- i guess i have got to speak plainly about this are threatening to arrest d.c. officials who implement the law, does that include you? >> i think it should include me. here, the mayor, the council, they sought legal advice from the office of the attorney general, that for the first time is an independent office

elected by the people. we looked at the law. we read the history, and we determined that the people's will could go into effect. so in a real way, the mayor, the council, and the police chief are all acting pursuant to my advice if anybody should be sanctioned, it's certainly not them. it's me. however, the law is clear, and what we have done is lawful. >> what is -- maybe it's early, but my guess is you have looked at it. what is likely to be the impact of this initiative on things like incarceration rates and maybe jobs and housing? >> you ask excellent questions. first with respect to incarceration, the statistics are clear, that people of color use marijuana at the same rate as folks who are not of color, yet, prior to this law's inaction, the record is also clear, that people of color were

prosecuted arrested and incarcerated at a factor of eight times grater than the majority culture. so we think that legalization actually provides a greater sense of fairness and balance and equality in enforcement of law. with regard to ememployment and housing issues it's very important to focus on the limited nature of the law the law provides for legal possession and use of marijuana in a private residence. >> attorney general, it's a pleasure to talk to you. thank you for your time. >> thank you very much tony. house speaker stands by his decision to invite israel's prime minister to address congress next week. rice said the speech by benjamin netenyahu is destructive to u.s. royal relations. the prime minister accuses western powers of allowing

tehran to develop nuclear weapons. when it's this cold out, many charities try to help the homeless. we'll find out why some local charities are discouraging donations on the street. ♪ the hills are alive with the sound of music ♪ >> a big birthday for the sound of music. we'll look at how life changed for the youngest of the von trap children 50 years later. >> and a missing child. >> i hope that the person that has her just bring her home. >> now, "america tonight" investigates the search for relisha.

tomorrow, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

♪ so listen to this in south korea, adultery is no longer a crime. in that country's top court throw out a law that has been on the books for more than six decades. and it is welcome news to south korea's bergening sex industry.

>> reporter: there have been four previous attempts to get this law which dates back to 1953 off of the statute books. the last time it came before the constitutional court was in 2008. and in that stage five of the nine judges voted in favor of making the change but that fell short of the two-thirds majority required. this time the marge was 7-2. and the opinion was that the state had no right to intervene in people's private lives. for women's rights groups they have long argued that this has been a way of punishing women. the two judges who voted against, one said this could lead to a surge in depravity in south korea. but for those looking at the way life is lived here i think you

would say there is a fair bit of depravity for those who are looking for it. the sex industry is a thriving one. there are love hotels across the country which rent rooms by the hour and allow cars to come in to the parks through curtained off screens to protect the identity of the residents. since 2008 only 22 people have actually served jail time. but since that time as well nearly 5,500 have been convicted, and it's for them that there might be the greatest impact. they have been told that they can apply to have those convictions overturned >> parts of the southeast with blanketed in snow this evening. look at this. horrible visibility. how about no visibility as the fog set in. and this storm is blamed for at least three deaths in

mississippi. nick ole mitchell is here with more. >> you said look at this and i'm thinking i can't. >> right. >> a lot of that cleared out overnight last night. today still the residual effects. temperatures got above freezing during the day. watch what is going to happen overnight. a lot of these dip back below freezing. you know what happens when the snow melts some and refreezes overnight. yeah. we're looking at places from north georgia to north carolina widespread black ice is what we'll have to watch for. you have high-pressure, that is a clockwise flow. on the eastern side you get that flow from the north that is still keeping about half of the country 10 to 30 degrees below average. so it's a few more days of these cold temperatures. if there's any sort of melting to refreeze overnight, it will be a problem. the temperatures i was

mentioning, atlanta still only at 46 and minneapolis a high of 8. that's a lot of cold air as far south as houston. dallas could be in the 30s tomorrow. that's important because that means this next round of moisture, even though it is not a lot, could be snow instead of rain. in fact that looks very likely. and maybe a little freezing drizzle on the light side of that that moves into saturday night. so it's not overyet. >> i love seeing 87 in miami. that was really nice. nicole thank you. it seems like it's the right thing to do when temperatures plummet, good samaritans try to help the homeless. but all across the country people are being asked not to help. >> yeah, tony it's one of those questions you have to ask yourself, am i really helping

someone out. more than two dozen cities have passed legislation restricting measures on where people can feed the homeless. >> reporter: the deep freeze has temperatured stalled near-record lows. and inside new york city's penn station, heidi and her coworkers from marketing firm are doing charity work. >> we're actually handing out blankets to people that need it for staying warm during this cold time. >> reporter: the group came to this rail station after being turned away last week from handing out blankets in the grand central terminal. >> it really shocked me. >> reporter: this time they were stopped by police and rail officials saying the give-away was against the rules.

>> reporter: we have an outreach upstairs. one officer told us they don't want the homeless to get comfortable here. they want them in shelters. >> if i gave you a scarf, would that keep you here? if you were cold and i gave you a scarf was that going to keep you here? no, it is going to keep your neck warm. >> reporter: the push back isn't uncommon. more than 20 u.s. cities have bans or restrictions on efforts to help the homeless. >> i got you some feed. >> reporter: a daytona beach couple was blocked from feeding crowds in a local park because they didn't have a special permit. a 90-year-old veteran in fort lauderdale was also threatened with arrest. many cities have cited health and safety reasons and a concern that it makes it easier for

people to stay on the streets. >> that would just be putting another band-aid on the problem. >> reporter: ryan gibbs is a homeless advocate. people need the blankets. >> yes, they do. >> they need the food. >> they do. it does help but it doesn't solve the problem. >> reporter: so how do you solve the problem in the short-term when people are cold or hungry and they may not be able to make it to a shelter. >> that is the problem we're trying to figure out. the wider issue is about the housing. people need housing out there. >> reporter: others have argued food-sharing programs and other giveaways are sometimes the only way some homeless have access to healthy and safe food on a given day. this team says it will continue its mission, filling their effort regardless of the rules is simply the right thing to do. again, many homeless advocates

point out not everyone wants to go to a shelter, so a lot of these groups they believe should bring services to people where they are. >> it feels like the right thing to do though to help if you can. but i guess i understand the argument some of the cities are making. jonathan good to see you. david shuster is here. >> tony the latest isil video shows isil fighters using sledge hammers to smash priceless artifacts at a museum in mosul iraq. and we'll introduce you to the mon muments men who are trying to save the art facts. plus the harsh realities of life on the streets for gay teenagers. plus heroin use is going up among younger american adults. we'll take you to chick's

dangerous heroin highway. all of those stories and more in just a few minutes. >> david thank you. one of the best loved and highest grossing films in history turns 50 years old next week. it's based on the memoir of maria van -- von trapp. ♪ the hills are alive with the sound of music ♪ >> reporter: the sound of music is one of the most popular, highest grossing films of all time. the 1965 movie won five academy awards including best picture. ♪ when you know ♪ >> reporter: it's one of those movies almost everyone can sing along to. and some parts of the story are even view. joe handest von trapp, the youngest son of george and maria

was one of three children the von trapps had together making a total of ten. what parallels between your real life and the movie are real? >> well i think it's easier to say that the main theme of the film is accurate. and then pick out a few inaccuracies, and correct them. one is the time frame. my mother and father were married in 1927. hitler invaded austria in 1938. so there were 11 years there, which went up in smoke in the movie. >> reporter: and in real life the von trapps didn't escape the nazis by crossing the alps he said they would have been killed. rather they took a train to italy and then on to america, where they continued singing. holding the family together was maria, the nun in training

turned barroness von trapp who wrote the story of the von trapp family singers. >> reporter: why do americans love this story line so much? >> it's a masterpiece of movie making. it deals with themes that are fundamental to the human condition. love of family love of a man and a woman, love of country, and i think these themes all resinate with people. you know climb every mountain is really very metaphorical. ♪ climb every mountain ♪ >> adam may, al jazeera, stowe, vermont. you can watch adam's full report on america america at 10:00 pm eastern time 7:00 pacific this evening. that is all of our time for this news hour. thanks for being with us. i'm tony harris in new york.

david shuster is coming up next and then it is the international hour with stephanie sy and antonio mora. if you would like the latest of any of these stories head over to our website, aljazeera.com. that's aljazeera.com.

♪ hello everybody this is al jazeera america, i'm david shuster in new york coming up, this hour destruction in iraq second largest city i.s.i.l. demolished artifacts and treasures as identity of jihad john is revealed heroin highway fuels the fix for suburb teens and we have a closer look. questions in pasco,